Friday, June 30, 2006

9/10

I remember September 10, 2001; it was the a nice, late summer Monday in the Twin Cities. I was working for Target at the time and I remember riding the bus into downtown, thinking about the projects I had to complete that week. My son had begun kindergarten the previous week and my daughter was busily scooting around our house, investigating everything in sight. It was shaping up to be an uneventful week and I remember spending the majority of my bus time reading about the football results from the day before - the Packers had routed the Lions 28-6 at Lambeau Field, a typical result for what was a typical day.

Life was a lot simpler on 9/10. I've been thinking about 9/10 today because of the Supreme Court decision yesterday in the Hamdan v. Rumsfeld case. In their ruling, the Supremos decided that President Bush needs to say "Mother, May I" to either Congress, or the Court itself, and probably both, before he can establish a system of military tribunals to deal with suspected terrorists who are captured by U.S. forces. John Paul Stevens and his pals are eager to rein in President Bush. I'm not sure that it's the president who needs reining in.

The good news is that once President Bush does his courtesy bow to the other branches, he'll likely be able to proceed as planned. I don't believe that even some of the loonier members of Congress are likely to want to leverage Hamdan to further hamstring the executive. It will be a difficult sell for anyone to show mercy to the plaintiff in this case, who was once Osama bin Laden's driver.

No matter how low Bush's "approval numbers" get, this president (and his successors) will need to have the power and leverage to deal with the threat of terrorism going forward. Even if it's President Feingold. The executive in our system has the responsibility to wage war. Congress has to declare it first, but Congress and the Court really need to think hard about how much involvement they should have -- no military will long survive with 545 commanders in chief...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Russ Feingold is NEVER going to be president! In addition to his constant quest for attention by hanging out on the lunatic fringe, he's got a sketchy family history (twice divorced), and other skeletens as well. Trust me, the more the nations learns about Russ Feingold, the less they will like him. That includes the lefties....

Mr. D said...

Hey anonymous,

I know Feingold won't ever be President. But the principle remains the same. The Supremes and the Congress are usurping power and we're seeing everyone in the media shout hosannas about it because of their enmity towards the current White House denizen. Someday, someone more to the Left's liking will be in the Oval Office. And that individual will find that the leverage he (or she) needs to do their job has been taken away. And it will be a problem. Just like it is now.